Bike to Work Day

Somewhere, someone called me and fellow left-leaning types a bunch of names. Most of the odd pejoratives I dismissed as typical bigotry and promptly forgot. Of course, this was in print, as this sort of passive-aggressive computer dork would never have the cojones to look another dude in the eye, let alone say anything except well under his Twinkie breath. One of the names stuck with me: hackey sack player. I vote democratic (or further left) and I’m also a card-carrying ACLU and Sierra club member (among other semi-commie outfits) but I’ve never played hackey sack. I did judo and jiu-jitsu for several years, so I guess I could play hackey sack with that guy’s fat, muscle-free corpse.

I am what you would call a bike person. There has only been one single year in my entire life when I didn’t own at least one bicycle and that was when I lived in a South American city where riding a bike would have made the X-Games look like rocking on a porch swing. I ride for speed, for thrills, for transportation but mainly just because it is a great way to get around. Bicycles are the single greatest form of individual transportation ever invented. My saying this doesn’t make me some sort of eco-hippie and, as I said, I don’t play fucking hackey sack.

Tomorrow is Bike to Work Day here in Seattle, home to some of the worst traffic congestion in the country (I think we made it to #2 behind perennial loser L.A.). Less than 1% of workers in Seattle choose to commute by bicycle and I guess that is their business. I have spent enough of my life commuting in various forms and I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would choose to sit in traffic in a car. I think it is time to at least start talking about alternatives to the automobile.

The people of Amsterdam decided that they preferred the city planning of their 17th century forefathers to the planning designed around the use of automobiles. Ten years ago they voted to seriously restrict the use of cars in the center of their beautiful city. They are accomplishing this by gradually removing parking in the city center and then rebuilding the roads to make less room for cars and more for bikes and pedestrians. Bikes are everywhere in Amsterdam and the people there all look fit. They have made their lives better by limiting the use of the automobile.

Cars have a place in the whole scheme of transportation but we must not see them as the only means of getting around. If you drive a car every time you leave your house then you should take a good look at where you live. If you have a bike and haven’t ridden in a while try taking it out for a spin. It is a good way for an adult to play like a little kid behind the guise of being socially responsible (yeah, I hate that phrase, too).

P.S. What, exactly, is wrong with playing hackey sack?